Unai Emery has backed Nicolas Pepe to have a “big career” at Arsenal if he embraces the pressure that comes with his £72million price tag.
Pepe has endured a mixed start to his career at Arsenal, scoring one goal and providing two assists in eight games across all competitions. The record signing’s low point came at Old Trafford on Monday night where his shooting and delivery from open play were consistently wayward in the 1-1 draw with Manchester United.
Such were Pepe’s struggles that he, rather than the impressive 18-year-old Bukayo Saka was withdrawn after 74 minutes to make room for Reiss Nelson. The Ivory Coast international admitted after the game that his start to life in the Premier League had “not been easy” and that he had lost confidence.
However he has the clear backing of Emery, who has held one-on-one video sessions with the former Lille winger to help familiarise him with the physicality of the English game.
![[FILE] Liverpool’s Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah (L) runs with the ball as Arsenal’s Brazilian defender Gabriel closes in during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium in London. (Photo by Catherine Ivill / POOL / AFP)](https://www.afriupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/000_97B779-scaled-e1703231851386-120x86.jpg "Liverpool host Arsenal in battle for Premier League Christmas No. 1 3")
“I am sure that Pepe is an amazing player, I am sure he is going to be here a big career, [he] needs time,” he said. “A lot of players when they came here, the first month, the first year is not easy for them.
“But I am going to work with him, to be easy that adaptation for Pepe and Dani Ceballos and other players, and after carry on, being together and be strong, and after each individual quality to use with us the best we can.”
Emery added: “He still needs to play, get confidence, know progressively better the other players, our work. It’s one price and this process is called adaption. The adaptation, some need less time and some need more. But every player needs time when they arrive here. Young players or players as important as Pepe.
I think he is progressing. We are working with him individually and collectively for that process to be as quick as it can, but really we are happy with him. I am understanding his moment each match with us. And his process is going in the direction we were thinking at the beginning.
He needs to play, he needs to train, he needs to be with us, he needs to also understand better English/French with us, with the players. I am speaking with him and he is telling me he understands me when I am showing him some moves individually and also speaking about how we want him to play with us.
“But really it is one process and I am sure he is going to be, step by step by playing matches, getting better with his performance.”
It has not aided Pepe’s cause that his £72million price tag comes with external expectations that are not the same as those within Arsenal. When the Gunners smashed their club record to bring the Ivorian to the Emirates Stadium they were acutely aware that, unlike Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, they were not buying a finished product but instead investing in a player with significant upside.
Arsenal might point to the £113million Atletico Madrid spent on Joao Felix or the £65million Barcelona invested in Frenkie De Jong and note that potential comes with a significant mark-up next to him. They might also note that Thierry Henry did not find the net once in his first seven games in north London and things turned out quite alright there.
Ultimately being fifth most expensive player ever signed by a Premier League brings a degree of expectation from pundits and fans and whilst Pepe is not performing to the level that made him Ligue 1’s most dangerous forward outside Paris Saint-Germain last season he can expect a disproportionate degree of attention.
Emery, though, insists that the price tag is not weighing Pepe down.
“They are human, every player. When they are here working and playing with us, we don’t want and it’s not relevant for us to speak about the money. Not for him, not for young players or experienced players. The salary is not important for me. They are players, they are human, they play and are not thinking about that. I am not thinking about my salary when I am the coach.
“The players are not thinking about the salary or what one club paid to use him. For us, it’s not thinking about pressure or not pressure. We are playing every time, as a coach or a player, under pressure.
“Under pressure is a positive. Being under pressure is because we are at a big club with a very demanding objective. We are here because we are in the selection. Every player is in the selection to be here and it’s a privilege to be here. That privilege brings pressure, of course. But it’s positive, of course. Not for the salary, not for how much the club paid for him. No, no, no.
“You [the players] are here because you deserve to be here and you are privileged players to be here. As I am a privileged coach to be here. We are playing to achieve something important. It’s demanding, we are under pressure, of course. But I am not feeling pressure as a negative thing.”
One player who has not shrunk under the pressure is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has scored in all bar one of the Arsenal games he has featured in this season.
The only match Aubameyang has missed this season was the 5-0 EFL Cup win over Nottingham Forest in which Gabriel Martinelli led the line instead.
With Alexandre Lacazette out until after the international break with an ankle injury Aubameyang could be required again as Arsenal look for their second win in two Europa League group stage games when Standard Liege visit the Emirates.
“I don’t know if Aubameyang is going to play tomorrow, we will decide after [training],” Emery said. “Physically I think he is a privileged player with that quality, he is very powerful, he is stronger and can play a lot of matches in one week.
“But really, I am now not clear if he is good to play or not but we have Lacazette still injured, he is going to be with us maybe after the international break and Martinelli, we are using him in training, we used against Nottingham Forest as a striker – it is not the best position for him but he played well and he played some times there in Brazil but he can play right or left.
“We also have two more injuries in the Under-23s – Folarin Balogun and Tyreece John-Jules – they are injured and cannot help us. Maybe, Reiss Nelson can play as a striker in one moment but in the beginning, I am thinking about Aubameyang and I am not sure [if he will play] and the second option is Martinelli.”
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